The Evolution of the American Teacher Labor Force in the Latter 20th Century: Dimensions of Gender, Race, and Salary

Abstract

This dissertation examines three dimensions – gender, race, and salary -- of the national teacher labor force that emerged in the post-World War II period. First, teaching became increasingly feminized; it became a stable occupation for college-educated women because with the lift of the marriage bar, women were allowed to work after marriage and having children. In regards to the racial and ethnic composition of the national teacher labor force, the whitening of the Southern teacher labor force in the post-desegregation era converged to that of the rest of the United States; the rate at which white teachers were hired as teachers was greater than that of black teachers. Finally, examining the salary returns to the bachelor‘s in education degree in the teacher and non-teacher labor markets the findings show that the bachelor‘s in education degree has the greatest salary return in teaching. The standardization of teacher education resulting from institutional isomorphism led to the regional convergence in the social characteristics of American teachers. Therefore, this dissertation is an historical analysis of the homogenization in the social characteristics of the American teacher labor force in the post-war era.